Charlie Herschel has been a fan of SURVIVOR since the first season and has been training for it ever since. A lawyer for one of the top 10 most prestigious law firms in the world, Herschel is ready to try his persuasion skills on a different type of jury.

This 29-year-old, marathon-running attorney and University of Pennsylvania graduate says he is above nothing when he gets to the island. Charlie's strategy is to be authentic but with a twist. "With high risks, come high rewards, but the risks must be calculated." The middle son of three boys and a native New Yorker, the Ivy Leaguer is not afraid to claw his way to the top.

In his free time, Herschel trains to race in marathons around the country. He credits this passion for helping him stay in shape. Through his training, Charlie dropped 60 pounds and continues to be at fighting weight.

Charlie is a gay, single man and currently resides in New York City. His birth date is May 12, 1979.

Like Dan Kay, Survivor Gabon cast member Charlie Herschel is a lawyer from the northeast. Unlike Dan, however, Charlie is a student of the game who’s watched it since the first season. Because of that and for many other reasons, he actually resembles Survivor China winner Todd Herzog. (I even accidentally typed “Todd” a few times while writing this.)

Charlie’s biggest obstacle both in the game and even in getting cast for it seems to involve other people’s perception of him, and that includes comparisons to season 15’s winner. During our conversation, Charlie asked, “Do you think I look like Todd? That was the casting people’s biggest concern. They were like, ‘We can’t have you, you’re Todd.’ That was the only question I ever had to answer: Why aren’t you Todd?” He said casting even had him put on a vest to see if he looked like Todd, even though Charlie wouldn’t ever wear “skinny jeans and a vest.”

He pointed out that he’s really “a totally different person”: “Todd’s a Mormon, I don’t believe in religion”; Todd is more confident whereas Charlie is more “under the radar”; Charlie is older, a lawyer and not a “stewardess”; and is tall and athletic, whereas “Todd is kind of like a puny midget with a mullet.” (That description still cracks me up.)

Still, Charlie acknowledged looking somewhat like Todd, and said, “At the end of the day, I do think Todd and I are very similar. I think he could have gone to Penn, become a lawyer, done everything I’ve done. So it was really hard trying to convince them that I wasn’t Todd when I did think that I was a little bit like him, and only now am I allowed to say that I do like Todd.”

Charlie talks ridiculously fast and was full of energy. He didn’t conceal his extreme enthusiasm, nor do I think he really could. While he’s very friendly and engaging to talk to, it’s not hard to imagine that some of his tribemates might find his liveliness and non-stop talking to be insufferable rather than charming. He seemed to recognize that: “My biggest concern is that these people are going to eat me up. I’m so nervous. They walk around with these dagger eyes. No one’s smiled at anyone,” he said.

Charlie was recruited, and although he’s never applied to the show, it’s not because he doesn’t watch. In fact, he’s watched since the first season, and said that “everyone in my life knows that I’m a super, super-duper fan.” He just equates applying to the show to playing the lottery, an essentially pointless task, and thus never applied. However, Micronesia and Vanuatu cast member Eliza Orlins was casting at his law school, and people told her to find Charlie.

As a result of being a fan, he clearly gets the fundamentals of Survivor. “I’m not sure if there is a golden rule book for how you should play this game. People who do well go in flexible,” he said. “The thing I’ll need to do is tone it down and be less paranoid, be less aaah!, and make people perceive that I’m comfortable—but I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable in this game.” Discussing authenticity, he said, “trust is the only thing you can have in this game, and I think that, it’s really important to be yourself to the extent that you can.”

However, some of the discussions of strategy were contradictory. “I want to be like the gay, white, athletic, male Cirie,” he said, but later he said, “I’m a follower; I’m the furthest thing from a leader.” Cirie, of course, was a pretty strong leader. And at various points, he described his strategy as involving possibly disparate things like being “the social butterfly” and “flying under the radar.”

Similarly, he told me he was “a whole ball of nerves,” in part because production asked the cast members to bring and wear their work clothes, thus upending his strategy of lying about his profession and pretending to be a math teacher instead of a lawyer—even though he also said that “being authentic and being yourself” is important, a contradiction he later acknowledged.

The challenges he identified involve the social game and, again, how other people perceive him. Although he’s run seven marathons, becoming a runner as a senior in college when he was “obese,” he doesn’t appear to be athletic. “I don’t know how many guys you’ve talked to here, but, like, their muscles are gigantic,” Charlie said. “In order to compete with that, I think I need to step it up and say, hey, I have endurance, I can compete as well.”

Charlie’s also worried about how fellow cast members will react to him and others. “I’m not used to being around people who aren’t used to being around diversity. So I think that’s going to be a big challenge for me,” he said. “I might be the first gay person that a lot of people meet … and I’m really concerned how I’m going to handle that, because I take acceptance for granted.”

Twenty-nine-year-old Charlie Herschel, who makes his reality-TV debut on Survivor: Gabon Thursday night, was a confidant of Clay Aiken’s before Aiken decided to come out of the closet this week. Here, Charlie talks to The Advocate about their friendship, impending television fame, and how he managed to take seven weeks leave from his New York law firm to film in Africa.

It’s a big week for Charlie Herschel. Forty-eight hours before his big debut on the 17th season of Survivor, the 29-year-old New York–based corporate lawyer is finding out with the rest of the world that his online chat buddy of two years, American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken, has announced on the cover of People that he’s gay. The two started chatting on social networking site Connexion.org during the whole Kelly Ripa hand-over-the-mouth hubbub, and those early chat fests developed into a casual friendship while Aiken was in New York starring in Broadway’s Spamalot.

“There was a point when I was in law school that I was on IM almost every day, so we used to IM almost every day,” says Herschel, who has maintained a friendship with Aiken ever since.

Then Herschel got the call to partake in the experience of a lifetime, packed up his life, and flew halfway across the world to Africa, putting those IM chat sessions momentarily on hold. He left his swank New York law firm behind to rough it in Gabon with 17 other reality-star wannabes. And as with past seasons of Survivor, the production pretty much guaranteed that Herschel was separated from the outside world for almost two months, so he missed all of the media attention paid to Aiken's baby, born August 8 through a surrogate, and the gossipy banter that followed.

Now that Herschel’s back in New York and awaiting the media firestorm that is sure to greet his big reality show debut, the strong but unassuming marathon runner is about to get a taste of what it feels like to be openly gay and in the public eye -- something he can now share in common with his fellow reality-star friend. But Herschel says he didn’t pursue Survivor for fortune or the gay media fame that is so often bestowed on attractive reality show grads. His reason for doing the show was simple -- it’s something he’s dreamed of since season 1…and if it helps him find the man of his dreams, all the better.

The Advocate: Was auditioning for Survivor something you’d actively pursued for a long time, or was it a spur-of-the-moment decision? Charlie Herschel: I’d been a huge fan ever since the first season, but you just read about the tens of thousands of applicants, so I never threw in an application because I thought it would be a complete waste of time. Then I was twiddling around one weekend at my desk, procrastinating, and I was like, I’m never going to get this experience unless I at least try once to apply. One thing led to another and I finally got cast.

So basically, you’re telling me your boss has your procrastinating to thank for him losing you to Survivor? Exactly.

How does one tell his boss, "Um, I need to take several weeks off to go live in the middle of nowhere and film a reality show"? I went to my boss… I was very nervous. I work at a big corporate law firm, it’s one of the three biggest law firms here in New York. I was just completely honest with him. I said, "This has been a dream of mine forever. I love my job and my job will come first, but I’m hoping we can work this out that I can take off seven weeks for the summer." And he was like, "Charlie, if I can help you realize your dream, this is the best day of my year so far." They were really supportive of me, and it didn’t hurt that the economy is tanking, so taking me off payroll for seven weeks didn’t hurt them.

You told the website Reality Blurred that you want to be the gay, white, athletic, male version of Cirie? Was that your strategy going in? My strategy going in was just to be very adaptable and flexible. I’ve watched every season, and you just never know what to expect with each season. You don’t know who the characters are going to be, you don’t know who’s going to be in your tribe, so I thought that I would be able to be like the gay, white, athletic Cirie, and that would help me in that I wouldn’t be the most threatening person there but I wouldn’t obviously be such a weak link on the tribe that they would want to vote me off right away.

Reality shows have been criticized in the past for casting the token gay character. Did you have any worries about that? On Survivor, a lot have romantic interests out there and that distracts them from winning the game. I knew I was never going to be tempted out there because I was going to be the only gay person, so if anything, I knew it was just going to help my game. But it does add a little bit of stress being the only gay character and knowing you’re going to be representing that demographic.

You’re friends with someone who knows a bit about what it’s like to be in the spotlight of the gay community: Clay Aiken. Well, he’s not a close friend of mine. We’ve only hung out, like, twice. I fell out of touch with him for a little while, but there was a point when I was in law school that I was on IM almost every day, so we used to IM almost every day. But we haven’t spoken since I got back from Africa, so he doesn’t even know I was on Survivor. But there was a point, up through when I left for Survivor, where we were in pretty close contact.

Were you surprised then yesterday to find out that he’d come out? I was pretty surprised that he came out, just because he seemed pretty adamant about being private about that sort of stuff with the public. He’s open with his family and friends and everything though.

The People cover suggests he finally decided to come out because he didn’t want to raise a kid to think it was OK to lie about who you are. Why do you think he finally decided to come out? I really have no idea. I imagine it’s really hard to harbor such a deep secret that people continue to probe you on in every interview that you give. If you’re a public figure like that, it must be really difficult. At a certain point, coming out is a little bit easier for your life, and I think we all make that move at different points, and at a certain point he weighed those options, and I’m sure it was better for him.

Now that you’re back in New York, do you plan on reaching out to him? Definitely. I came back from Africa and I hadn’t read the news for two months, and he was all over the news because of the baby. So I didn’t want to be one of those people who, now that he’s all of a sudden back in the spotlight, would reach out and say, "Hey, what’s going on?" When he was here doing Spamalot the first time, his corporate apartment was right near my office, so I’m sure he’ll be nearby if he wants to hang out -- I definitely would be open to that.

Has he always seemed to you to be pretty open in his personal life? One hundred percent open.

Does he go out in New York to the gay clubs? He's just like a normal guy who was thrust into the limelight because of this reality show. This is for him to talk about, but I don’t think he drinks, he’s not a party animal. I don’t think he has any interest in that, whether they be straight clubs, gay clubs. Hopefully now he’ll be found more at gay charity fund-raisers or functions, but I don’t expect to see him at Beige anytime soon.

Knowing what you know of Clay, do you think he’s somebody who would take on more of a political voice or perhaps attend the big gay charity functions? I expect it. I know he’s a spokesperson for UNICEF and he’s really big on giving back. He has a big heart, and I think he’s in a position right now where he can change a lot of people’s minds and views. I don’t know if we’ve ever seen a single gay dad come out in the public like this.

Well, now you two have a little something in common -- you’re both gay reality show celebs. The whole idea of being gay while you’re on the reality show, though, is a tough one. Do you worry about being compared to any past gay contestants? I was a little nervous going in that I’d be compared to Todd, who won a few seasons ago. When I was watching Todd’s season in China, I really liked Todd a lot, but I never thought I was similar to him at all. Then going through casting, it seemed like people have such closed-minded ideas of gay people that you fit a gay person down to brown hair and brown eyes and they immediately assume you’re the other gay person who sat there with brown hair and brown eyes. So I definitely wanted to go in there and prove that I was different than Todd.

Regardless of how viewers react, it’s definitely going to open you up to a whole new fan base, that’s for sure. Have you given any thought to how you’re going to keep up with the endless flood of fan mail and date requests you’re bound to receive once the new season premieres? [Laughs] If this helps me find the man of my dreams, then I just welcome that with open arms. I’ve been single for a long time, so I am not seeing that as a problem.

So, what comes next for you, once the show airs? Is it back to work, business as usual? Part of my firm being so supportive with allowing me to go on this adventure was that I agreed beforehand that I would return to work immediately, so literally 24 hours after I got back from Africa, I was back at my desk reviewing documents, back at the job that I’ve been at for a while now. So yeah, business as usual. It’s a little distracting having all this hoopla over the show, but it’s really fun. I think it’s really exciting people, especially in this really awful, depressing economy. It’s giving people around here something to be excited about

Charlie Herschel, a 29-year-old lawyer from New York, NY, had no idea he was going home. After making it through the first eight episodes of Survivor: Gabon with only brief moments of drama as a member of the season's previously dominant "onion alliance," Herschel thought he was in pretty good shape heading into the competition's stretch run.

However, after 27 days in Gabon, one ally's Day 24 decision to betrayal another and his remaining alliance's remaining failure to secure a new tie-breaking fifth vote needed to control the game's first post-merge Tribal Council proved enough to make Herschel the tenth castaway to be eliminated from the show.

On Friday, Herschel talked to Reality TV World about how his "onion alliance" made its decisions, which castaway allegedly made a homophobic comment about him, and why he was happy to be eliminated from the show in a blindside.

Reality TV World: In your exit interview you said that you preferred to leave Survivor in a blindside. Why is that?

Charlie: There are two reasons. First: When you're blindsided you don't spend the day paranoid that you're the one to go and I'm sure that anxiety can be a lot to deal with.

Second of all, I'm a huge fan of the show so I know that blindsides are enjoyable for the audience, and to be part of something that I've enjoyed as an audience member for the last eight years is awesome. I know some people are embarrassed to go into a blindside, but not me.

Reality TV World: You also said that you "100%" did not see your elimination coming. Were you expecting [Jessica "Sugar" Kiper] to vote for [Crystal Cox] or did you know she'd decided to stay with Fang but believed they'd be targeting [Corinne Kaplan], [Randy Bailey], or [Robert "Bob" Crowley] instead?

Charlie: I thought maybe there was a slight chance that she would vote for Crystal but I was not banking on that. I was banking on the fact that if she were going to vote for someone in my alliance -- which I thought she would do -- it would be someone who she didn't like, who she despised, which would be Randy. She "couldn't even sleep one more night in the hut with him," she kept declaring.

She hated Randy, and so did [Susie Smith], Corinne and Crystal. Everyone did. So I thought it would be a slam dunk vote. And I had become very close with everyone and I just never thought that they would target me.

Reality TV World: Okay, so it was Sugar constantly talking about how much she hated Randy that led you to think you were safe.

Charlie: Along with everybody else hating Randy.

Reality TV World: Why do you think Sugar chose to stay with the Fang -- do you think it's because she and Ace had felt like outsiders during Kota's original "large onion" alliance or...

Charlie: (interrupting) ... Partly that she never knew Randy until she met him and she started hating him. She didn't really love Corrine, in fact I don't think she really liked Corrine. So that's two of the people. I think we got along, and then she hadn't seen Bob in, like, weeks. So I think you gain familiarity and trust in people you spend more time with and she had most recently been aligned with those people at Fang.

She really trusted [Matty Whitmore], I think she's the type of player that likes to align herself with the alpha-male and she saw that in Matty. I wasn't surprised that she went with them.

Reality TV World: On last week's episode, no one seemed to entertain the possibility of Sugar realigning with you and the rest of her original Kota members once the merge came but this week you guys seemed to be thinking otherwise once the merge happened. Was that change based only on [Marcus Lehman's] departure?

Charlie: That actually has to do with editing. I knew immediately -- even if Marcus wasn't voted off -- our game would be much easier to have more people who wanted to ally with us the better. So I sat Corrine down and said "We need [Sugar] to like us," and similarly I sat Randy down and said "You need to get Matty to like us" because we may need these people. We don't know what's coming at us and we're gonna have to be aligned with these people potentially if Marcus leaves. And even if Marcus definitely leaves, Susie could flip and then we might need Sugar.

So the week before we started working Sugar and tired to get her on our side, but it was too late in the game. It's too hard to make alliances after weeks of being out there.

Reality TV World: Were you aware that you had angered [Ken "Kenny" Hoang] by stealing his Immunity clue during the feast? Was that a calculated move?

Charlie: I wasn't aware that I angered Kenny. I knew that when Randy, Susie and [Dan Kay] joined Kota on Day 10 they let me know that Ken, behind my back, had called me "homo" and "fag." So I knew it wasn't gonna be smooth sailing with Kenny but I didn't realize that I had rubbed him in such a wrong way that he really despised me in the way he did. I only really got to know him for about three hours, and in that whole three hours I might have exchanged maybe 10 sentences with him.

I didn't get to know Kenny that well, so I'm surprised that he had such animosity based on so little.

Reality TV World: So was there any calculation to grab the clue or were you acting on instinct?

Charlie: Actually what happened has he saw the clue first, but I didn't know that. He told Matty "Look there's the clue. Shhh shhhh." I didn't see him say that, then later I saw the clue myself and I pointed to that and said "What's that? That's a clue."

Then he picked it out, and in my mind I'm thinking "Well I saw it, I should be able to see this clue just as much as Kenny should" and never thought that Kenny deserved privacy with this clue that he didn't even see first.

Had I known that Kenny had seen the clue before I had, perhaps I would have considered giving him more privacy with the clue. But he didn't make that clear to me, and he didn't make that clear to anyone.

Reality TV World: When I talked with [Ace Gordon] a couple of weeks ago, he'd disagreed with the idea that Kenny had become a strong strategic player. Do you agree or disagree with that and how apparent was Kenny's sudden rise to power among the other castaways?

Charlie: I agree with Ace. I think that last night was a complete display of that. He had a personal grudge against me and decided to lie to his alliance [and] put his credibility on the line because of a personal vendetta against me. I'm not sure if that's a strategic move. I don't see that as a "mastermind" move.

Had it been for a strategic reason, then I would applaud that. When he convinced Sugar to vote out Ace? I commend him for that. But otherwise I think he's made a lot of [errors] in this game. He's been on the lucky side of many twists, whenever he's been down in numbers in his tribe there's been some sort of twist to put him into a power position.

He's made some good moves, and he's made some bad moves. I would never call him a mastermind.

Reality TV World: In last night's show, Kenny used a claim that he thought you'd become "the brains" behind your alliance after Marcus' ouster to convince his allies to vote for you but then revealed he felt it was just a lie that he had made up. Do you agree that was a lie and if so, who do you think had become your alliance's new brain?

Charlie: I think I was the peacemaker of the tribe in the bigger picture of the alliance. Randy and Corrine were very hot-headed. Randy especially just got into fights and disputes all the time and I kinda fell into the position of [saying] "Okay, we might not wanna be mean to this person because of this, that or the other reason." So I -- a lot of times -- dealt with that.

Also, I had the closest connection with Bob so I was able to sort of tell Bob what to do because he sleeps [a lot] and have to kinda wake him up, give him a PowerPoint presentation on exactly what he has to do, and feed him word for word what he has to do. So in that way I felt I was definitely in control.

But on the other hand, every decision we made on how to proceed was made in a group. We all agreed to it [and] participated in all of the strategizing. So I don't think I was the brains behind the operation.

But Kenny's lie, and even though he didn't really believe it and said "I don't believe it," had to be somewhat believable to the other people to buy.

Reality TV World: In last week's episode, Randy had suggested that Marcus was in danger of being eliminated after that last switch. But this week, both yourself and Corrine seemed completely shocked to see him gone. Were you guys really that confident that Susie wouldn't decide that she could do better than the sixth slot in a six-person alliance and flip?

Charlie: No, I knew Marcus wasn't gonna show up. The minute I saw Marcus walk away from the challenge that they lost that was designed to be an individual Immunity Challenge that we were unable to throw, there was just no way that I could see him getting his way out of that.

I know Survivor and I know the strategy. Susie, Kenny and Crystal did 100% the right thing and I think they would have been morons had they not voted out the biggest threat, the most likable person, the strongest person in the game at that juncture. And when Marcus didn't walk up that day I think we were just sad, and we had hope that maybe they would be idiots and not vote Marcus out -- maybe Corinne was hanging onto that hope a little more than I was -- but we preceded it.

Reality TV World: Do you think it was a smart strategic move for yourself and Corinne to so openly object and criticize the other tribe's decision to vote Marcus out? In addition to needlessly ruffling their feathers, you also completely confirmed your alliance.

Charlie: Yeah I think that when Corrine said "I'm pissed" I think she'd agree, and I'd agree, that that wasn't a smart move. Then [Survivor: Gabon host Jeff Probst] asked me what I thought and I said that I felt sad for Marcus but I understood where they were coming from, he was a huge threat and we would've done the same thing.

Of course they don't show that except for "I'm sad for Marcus," but what can you do? I played it cool and no one knew where I stood at that moment. The truth of the matter was I never spent one night with Kenny or Crystal and so of course I was not gonna be close with them. It was not news to them that I was not aligned with them, or with them in the game.

Reality TV World: Last night, there was a reward trip conversation where you noted that "the three power players" -- Ace, Dan and Marcus -- had been voted out at the last three Tribal Councils. Ace and Marcus' actions seem to have been pretty well chronicled on the show, but Dan really didn't come across as a "power player" during the TV broadcasts, why did you consider him to be a "power player"?

Charlie: I think I was talking physically in the game. I think there were a lot of weak... or maybe not weak but, like, six women in a row, and then Boom, Boom, Boom... "he-men" [got eliminated].

Reality TV World: Before that last bit of tribal reshuffling, it seemed like Randy had somehow managed to replace Bob in your core Kota 4 alliance with Marcus and Corrine -- is that accurate?

Charlie: No, that's inaccurate. We told Randy that he was gonna be the fourth in our alliance, but [that's] the strategy you have to use to make the people feel loyal to you. Bob was seriously loyal and he didn't need assurance that he was four or three. He was gonna stay with us no matter what.

So our strategy was that we'll deal with Randy-versus-Bob when we get down to it. But for now... we needed Randy, so we needed to feed him whatever he'd believe to keep him.

Reality TV World: A lot has been made of your relationship with Marcus. What did you see in him that made you want to ally up with him so quickly once arriving on the island?

Charlie: Marcus was very smart, so I knew that if he went off and talked to someone about strategy that he would always have our alliance in mind and be logical in the things he said.

If I were to align with someone like Sugar I just wouldn't trust what she said. Like, if she blows in the wind and she blows over to the wrong side, that affects me [and] everyone in her alliance. That's why Ace got outed I think. he just couldn't trust her.

Marcus is a very, very, very smart person.

Reality TV World: After he was voted out on last week's show, Marcus used his exit words to criticize "sneaky" gameplay. And then when we talked to him last week, he tried to justify those comments by claiming the gameplay that he, you and the rest of your allies had been doing hadn't been the same and also make some "high road" comments that came across as pretty hypocritical to many of our readers. I know he's obviously become a close friend of yours, so what's your own take of the original Fang folks' gameplay -- do you agree with Marcus comments?

Charlie: I'm not exactly sure what Marcus said, but this is my take. I think that they did the absolute correct thing to do. You're playing Survivor, there's no "high road" and "low road." But if you're taking a strategic position, you can take it in a non-mean spirited way. When you vote someone out that you don't like you don't have to give them the finger, or laugh and say "Sayonara Kota God." That's just being mean.

These people were just mean. They were mean spirited and there's no point in that. It's just cancerous and hopefully that's what Marcus was referring to. I don't think a strategy is a "high road" or a "low road." I think everyone would agree upon what a good strategy is, but I think he's just talking about he spirit in which you execute your strategies.

Reality TV World: During our interview with him, Marcus also claimed that the Kota 6 was apparently some type of "free love"-type alliance where no one had made any firm alliances beyond just getting to the Final 6 -- which seemed pretty hard to believe given both your comments about your alliance with Marcus and now last night's Corrine comments about how her core alliance with Marcus and yourself. Do you agree with his claim there were no additional alliances?

Charlie: No I do not agree with that claim. There were certainly additional alliances within the six. The day before the merge switch-up there where seven people in our tribe because Dan was still there. It's impossible to have an alliance of seven where everyone feels like they're on top of the alliance. It's impossible.

We tried the best we could to thin of different ways to make Susie and make Dan feel like they were on the top of it, but there's only so much you can do.

Reality TV World: When we talked to Dan a few weeks ago, he said he had a lot of the conversations he had with you guys was to calm Marcus' insecurities about the tribal swap and trying to make Marcus feel â€ścomfortableâ€ť -- which is kinda the opposite of how it was presented on the show. Did you see any of that and do you agree with that statement?

Charlie: With whether Dan was trying to soothe us?

Reality TV World: To soothe Marcus....

Charlie: Well Dan, at every moment, would express his undying devotion to the Kota tribe from the second we met him, and it was kinda like you didn't believe it, Especially when you saw him go off and hug Matty and say "Final 2!" with Matty, which they don't show in the show.

But I just didn't believe Dan trying to calm us down. It was a mess, both of us were paranoid and Marcus was trying to calm down, Dan was trying to calm Marcus down, I was just trying to tell Marcus to shut up, and Randy was trying to tell Dan to shut up. It was... it was kinda chaotic.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on Survivor?

Charlie: I just applied. I sent in a video and did the traditional casting.

Did you have cultural shock moving from Manhattan to Gabon, Africa?Charlie: It was a big culture shock. That wasn't what I was used to at all, but I'm a very adaptable person. I was definitely prepared for the diversity of characters that I was with in Gabon given that I'm a New York and travel the subway with lunatics every morning.

It looked like you really enjoyed yourself after winning the reward challenge. What was it like to visit the Gabonese village and partake in their dance ceremony?Charlie: It was amazing. We spent the night there. We hadn't eaten anything in three days, so we were thrilled to get some food. The first thing the natives gave us was a root, which turned out to be a hallucinogenic drug. We were totally high on that. All of a sudden I had a burst of energy and spent the whole day dancing. The ceremony lasted 24 hours and there was food galore, so it was really special. It made me realize that no matter what happened in the game some experiences were just worth it.

After the tribes merged, you became the Nobag tribe. Were you a fan of the tribes' new name?Charlie: I thought Nobag was a ridiculous idea. Kenny came up with that. But you know what, it's not the most talented bunch that's left there. The intelligent ones are in the minority, so they're not about to make waves over a tribe name.

Speaking of Kenny, did you have any idea he was so upset with you for taking the hidden immunity idol clue away from him?Charlie: I really had no idea! No one told me. He never mentioned it. We merged and then three hours later we went to Tribal Council. I really had no clue that he was holding this personal grudge.

Who deserved to go home?Charlie: I don't think anyone deserves to go home. I do wish that Crystal had gone home. I don't respect the way she's playing the game at all. She's very mean-spirited about every move she makes. But, she's in the majority, so does that mean she deserves to stay? I guess so.

What was the hardest part of surviving for 27/28 days? Charlie: I didn't find it hard at all. I thought everything was so much fun. This had been a dream of mine for eight years. I ate up every second of the game. I have always wanted to be on Survivor, so if I was starving I embraced being hungry and if I was tired I just enjoyed being tired.

Did you lose much weight?Charlie: I lost a ton of weight. I was down maybe 15 or 20 pounds when I left.

What was the first thing you did when you returned to civilization?Charlie: I went to work the next day. I promised my boss, who generously gave me seven weeks off to have this experience, that I'd come right back. My first night back, Marcus came over because he had a layover in New York. So, we hung out and went out for sushi on the upper west side of Manhattan.

Last time on Survivor: Gabon - Earth's Last Eden Kota and Fang finally merged into one tribe, unofficially dubbed by the tribers "Nobag" after the game masterminds flirted with the possibilty longer than usual. A merge usually means there are a couple of tribers feeling the heat, hanging by a thread who suddenly feel reprieved, letting the spotlight shine elsewhere. Bob certainly breathed easier for a moment.

But players who have made it a point to stay under the radar usually see the merge as a sort of a break for at least 3 days, since somebody's got to be in the crosshairs at the bottom of the pile in both tribes. Charlie Herschel was in the latter category until he heard his name spoken by Jeff Probst for the first time at Tribal Council. From then on, it was all downhill. The only upside to being blindsided is he will still be in the game as Juror Number 2, joining his former tribe mate and buddy, Marcus.

We caught up with the Attorney from New York City on a day off from work, where, apparently no one is fazed by his losing out on a million bucks. A mere bag of shells.

FC: Hi Charlie! How are you?CH: I'm doing great! I just feel so happy that I got this opportunity and yeah, I'm bummed that I came out a little sooner than I'd have liked to, but I can't believe I really didn't embarass myself and I was on a reality television show for 27 days!

FC: That's right and at the end you even said that you were grateful because you expected to be knocked out first.CH: Exactly.

FC: So it was all gravy after that.CH: I 100% stand by that.

FC: And there you are, you're on the jury so it's not over for you yet.CH: You're entirely correct. And I get to spend time with Marcus and whoever's next.

FC: That's right. What do you do when you're on the jury? What's that like?CH: You have a lot of free time on your hands. I was gone on Day 27, so I only had 12 days left. You just acclimate back to real life, food, all that stuff. Exercising again, Marcus and I went running and swimming, because you have activities finally. And you eat a ton!

FC: It's sort of like being at a resort finally right?CH: It's like being at a resort and then you attend Tribal Council very frequently, to try and educate yourself on who you're gonna vote for.

FC: Yeah it's always shocking when you see the jury members come in and they're all trim and fit, no more dirty faces...CH: I don't know if trim is the right word but... maybe you mean obese!

FC: Well it depends on the character. As far as your character goes you, that was a shocker. I always point out that for you it's been awhile since you got voted out, but for us it was only last night. How are you dealing with that? CH: Well a lot of it was just last night for me too, I didn't know a lot about stuff that went down, it was a complete blindside, I 100% did not expect to be voted out when I walked into Tribal Council that night. But I was happy that I played, I didn't think that anyone voted me out because they didn't like me or 'cause they complained about me. I think they saw me as a threat and so I'm happy with how it went down.

FC: Yeah and your edit was nice, I mean we didn't see much of you since the beginning of the show but everytime we did you were a team player...CH: I was born for reality television! I mean I want to say that I spent most of my time thinking and calculating and strategizing, but they never used any of that, because we rarely went to Tribal Council. So all that time that I spent out there is kinda moot.

FC: So what's going on for you now?CH: I'm back at work. I came back to work right away. I'm an attorney in New York (I took the day off!) which my job was super supportive about, and I love my job. (laughs) And I'm just back to a normal life. This was like an adventure that I never in a million years would've dreamed that I could have, and I feel very lucky.

FC: Well so how are they treating you there at work, I mean you must be a star in the office right?CH: You know what, sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get my friends to watch Survivor. I'm like, "I'm on this show" and they're like, "no,no,no, I don't watch reality TV" so you know, things haven't changed, I don't think people know who I am, and my life is not that much different.

FC: Maybe you'd have gotten their attention if you'd have wound up with a million bucks, then they would wanna be your friend right?CH: Yeah, except I work with a lot of people who get a million bucks and they don't care.

FC: So let's talk about you getting knocked out, you know, how they strategized against you. I saw your jaw dropping further to the floor with each and every vote.CH: Oh yeah, I was fooled because I had absolutely no idea that I was going to be voted out. I think Kenny was behind my demise. He had a personal grudge against me for whatever reason and he decided to lie to his alliance, and put his credibility in jeopardy just to get me out of there. So I was completely blindsided, I thought for sure they would go with somebody that his alliance despised, but instead he took power into his own hands and made sure that they ousted the person that he despised.

FC: Did you have someone else in your head that you thought was gonna go?CH: I certainly thought that Randy was gonna go. Randy had really alienated himself with a lot of people there. Crystal couldn't stand Randy, Sugar hated Randy, enough people hated Randy that it just seemed obvious that he was the one who was going to be going home.

FC: So when your name was read the first time, maybe you thought "OK, that's just one vote"...CH: No, I knew that they were gonna vote 5 and we were gonna vote 4, it was just a question of who of the 4 would they vote for, and I thought I was the least likely to be voted of the 4. I think I proved myself worthy.

FC: You certainly were. I always ask, can you predict a winner or someone you think you'd like to see winning the game?CH: I want either Corinne, Bob or Randy to win. Those were the people in my alliance. But if they're smart they'll probably shoot out my alliance before the end of the game.

FC: Well you played a great game. Good luck on the jury! We'll be watching on Fancast.CH: Thanks!

Things only got worse for The Onion Alliance last night on Survivor: Gabon. An opposing alliance, headed up by Crystal and Kenny, managed to take out Marcus last week and last night, they got rid of his partner in crime, Charlie. Had the Kota and Fang tribes stayed in tact from the beginning of this game up until the merge, Charlie and his alliance would have made a good run all the way to the very end but Survivor is always full of twists and turns. Today, Charlie spoke to BuddyTV in an exclusive interview and keeps it positive.

Well, first tell me your reaction when you found out that Marcus had been eliminated.

I actually was predicting that Marcus would be eliminated once I realized that they had lost the challenge so although I did have a little bit of hope that maybe Susie, Kenny, and Crystal would keep the biggest threat in the game. I would’ve given anything to have seen him there. Needless to say, I was still disappointed when he didn’t walk in at that challenge and it was definitely a punch in the stomach.

It almost looked like it affected Corinne more than you. Was she more surprised?

Corinne was actually trying to convince me the day before. I was like, “Marcus is gone. Marcus is gone.” I’ve seen Survivor a million times. I know strategy. I mean, you’d have to be an idiot to not vote out Marcus. She kept saying, “Don’t put that in the universe. Don’t put that into the universe.” She’s a really positive person and she just didn’t want us thinking that way. Corinne also happens to be a little more emotive and when she finds out things or has emotions, she lets people know them a lot more than I do. I was a little more cautious. So even though I probably wanted to vomit at that moment, I tried to remain composed.

Speaking of strategy, what was your strategy coming into the game and did you have to change it up throughout?

My strategy was just to be a generally likable person and develop strong relationships. As I’ve noticed in past seasons, the people who made it to the end were actual genuine friends. You know, Todd and Courtney and Amanda and Parvati… and to build trust, you have to build that and develop that genuinely. That said, I really didn’t have a set in stone strategy. I know Survivor and I know the twists and you have to be on your toes. You have to be adaptable and flexible and I knew that’s what I was going to have to be.

When I talked to Marcus, he said that you two were genuinely friends in and outside the game. What does his friendship mean to you?

My friendship with Marcus, Corinne, and Randy is one of the most amazing things I got from this game. Especially Marcus. I really, really like and respect Marcus a ton and we’re very close. I have a lot in common with him, shared an experience that’s so unique, we saw eye to eye each step of the way. I feel very fortunate to have met Marcus and Corinne and Randy a lot of other people on the show.

Did you have a moment this season where you thought this was your lowest point?

You know, I tried to stay positive the whole time. I think the low for me was the first twist when they switched up the teams and then Jacquie got the boot and that was really tragic for our alliance. We were able to pick up the pieces. I think when I realized, at the ten, when we were supposed to merge, we had to pick out of a bag to switch tribes, I think that was a low. I was like, "Okay, what do I do know?" I throw my hands in the air because you can't really develop a strategy when it's just going to be broken down all the time.

Is Crystal running this game right now? What's going on?

I don't know who's running the game over there. I really don't know. From a viewer's perspective, it looks like it's Kenny and Crystal who are calling the shots. That alliance appears to be very strong. It doesn't look like my alliance is going to be able to duke it out to the end but I'm rooting for someone from my alliance.

What kind of Survivor player do you respect at the end of the day?

I respect intelligence and smart moves and I think if you're going to make strategic moves, take people out, which you have to do in Survivor, you can do it in a nice way. You don't need to give someone the finger when you vote someone out, like Crystal does. You can say, "You're a threat." There's ways to be strategic and there's ways that I don't respect. If I'm gonna vote for you, I want you to be there because you played the game, not because you sat along and got lucky enough to ride coattails.

What has life been like for you since you've been home and since the season has been started and you've been watching it?

I'm a huge Survivor fan, I've always been a huge Survivor fan. It's just looking at Survivor in a whole different way. My actual life is not different. I'm a lawyer, I go to work every morning, I work out, and I hang out with my friends but I have a whole new appreciation for Thursday nights?

Crystal and Ken strike again! This time New York lawyer Charlie Herschel, 29, was their target on Survivor: Gabon. In a phone interview from his hometown, juror No. 2 dished about being blindsided, why he was willing to starve, the Marcus bromance and his Clay Aiken connection. – Carrie Bell

The players fans expected to make it to the end are falling like flies.It’s depressing, right? I thought I had a good chance. I’m a pretty likable, nice guy who got along with everyone and had a tight alliance and a super strong team for almost all of the game. I thought I was going to get farther.

You looked shocked at tribal council when Jeff started reading your name on the ballots. Did you think you were safe? Was this a true blindside? It was a 100 percent blindside. I thought I was in a position that, should we be given a twist like last week and I was in an alliance that was down in numbers, I would still be okay. I thought I would be the last person that would get voted off given that I was aligned with such polarizing characters who were despised by the other alliance. I wasn’t blindsided as far as my alliance losing a member but I was blindsided that it was me.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that players who rock the boat — like Randy or Corinne — would be the first to go, but it actually made more sense to pick you off in terms of end game.I was counting on that, but as I walked out it made perfect sense that they targeted me. The best move strategically was to take out the person who was most liked or who had more of a chance to win challenges. But I was surprised when I watched the episode that it wasn’t as strategic as it was personal. It was purely based on Kenny’s personal grudge against me. Up until last night, I thought it was strategy. Like of course they are getting rid of me because I’m a threat. But really they got rid of me because Kenny was not enjoying my company.

You seemed to fare okay physically in the game. Obviously you lost weight but you never looked sickly.I’m a marathon runner so I love putting my body through hell. I lost 15 or 20 pounds. Playing Survivor was my dream, so every time I was hungry, I’d be like, ‘I’m starving, but I’m starving on Survivor.’ I was simulating starvation for a million dollars. I knew it would end. I can’t complain about that. There are people who are really suffering from that. Mine situation was 39 days if I was lucky.

Unfortunately, being cast off meant you couldn’t win the million, but it did reunite you with your wanna-beau Marcus at Ponderosa. What was the first thing you ate and how did you guys spend your days at jury camp?Ponderosa was great … Marcus and I are really active, interested people. We were running, swimming, reading books, playing games, going on hikes. It was a total blast. It was a great segue back to the real world. The people who make it to the end have a day before they go back to their real life. They said I could eat whatever I wanted when I got there, but I don’t even remember what I ate. I wasn’t thinking about food. I was shocked after the vote and my adrenaline was sky-high so I don’t think I even really tasted that first meal.

It’s no secret that you had a crush on Marcus from the beginning of the show. How real this friendship is now that the show is over?Marcus is one of my closest friends. The best part of Survivor for me was that I got to meet and befriend Marcus, Corinne, Randy — all these people, especially Marcus. He was here last week to [do press] and we hung out together. We always have a blast together. The friendship that you saw was genuine.

Speaking of friendships, Randy was very vocal about you being the first gay person he’d met, how much he liked your company and how you challenged him?It’s awesome that happened on the show. I didn’t realize I had such an impact on him until I watched the show. It didn’t occur to me that he wouldn’t like me just because of my sexuality because I am so oblivious to homophobia living in New York City. But it’s out there. Randy might have voted yes on Prop 8 if he hadn’t met me and now that he knows me, he might not. If I can change one person’s mind, or two or three minds of people watching at home, by being myself, that’s great.

It has come out that you were IM friends with Clay Aiken before he came out in the pages of PEOPLE. What are your thoughts on him being open and becoming a dad? No comment. No, I am happy for him. He is a happy guy and the whole thing is great. He deserves happiness.

Now that you’ve had a taste of fame, are you interested in doing more or have you gone back to practicing law? I’m too normal for reality TV. I returned to the same firm I was at before the show. I still live in New York City. I’m still single. I’d love to play Survivor again, but unfortunately I gotta pay back those student loans so I have to be a lawyer now.